Why recruiters ignore your CV

Imagine you have spent hours writing what you think is the perfect resume/CV, only for it to be consistently ignored by hiring managers & recruitment companies. Suddenly the frustration kicks in and you are tempted to hurl insults at every company you have ever applied to.

Let’s look at 3 main reasons why this might be happening

1. Your Cover Letter Isn’t Strong Enough

Even the best resume can be ruined with a thoughtless cover letter. When you apply for your next job, keep in mind that your cover letter and your CV are a team. They need to be equally appealing if you are to land an interview. Create an original, inspiring, and tailored cover letter for each application. Your cover letter should focus on why you’re interested in the role and sum up why you’re the right candidate. Speak specifically to the company you’re applying to.

2. Your CV is too generic

If you are using the same CV for every application, your chances of success are very low. Keep in mind that busy recruiters and hiring managers have thousands of CVs to consider. Think about that job you are applying for then quickly skim through your current CV, would you hire yourself if you looked at your CV for 5-10 seconds?

Make your CV short, snappy, persuasive and summarize your key skills, relevant results, and experiences. The goal is to entice the recruiter to keep reading.

Make a note of keywords and specific skills highlighted in the job description, and then deploy those keywords and skills in your application.

3. Your CV Doesn’t Prove Your job specific Impact

Let’s be honest, most recruiters aren’t really interested in the day-to-day duties of your previous roles. They’re more impressed by the impact you made on your former employers.

When highlighting your work history, don’t simply state what each position involved. Include facts, figures, and metrics that prove your were an asset to that company you worked for. Many human resource managers and team managers can attest to the fact that most job seekers lie about their capabilities on CVs & sadly, these lies are only discovered after a lot of time and money has been splashed on the recruitment process.

To stand out from the usual, generic “stories” told by candidates on their CV, be super specific!!

If you were involved in client acquisition for example, how many clients did you bring on board & what was their value in terms of revenue? As a project or department manager, how much time did you save? What volume of costs did you mitigate? Quantifying your achievements helps back up everything you say about yourself.

A lot goes into consideration when CVs are getting sorted and selected for the best jobs. From our years of experience in successfully placing over 20,000 job candidates in top companies across East Africa, we often deal with a number of CVs for different industries. The above 3 aspects will often affect how often your CV gets picked up by hiring managers for shortlisting and job interviews.